


Only Human

by PhoenixFalling



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, SuperCorp, au where kara's a doctor & Supergirl, girls gotta prove themselves, lena is treading a dangerous path, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-15 23:35:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18083126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixFalling/pseuds/PhoenixFalling
Summary: * Hospital AU where everyone that works at Catco is a doctor at National Hospital *One late morning, Doctor Kara Danvers is on the tail end of her shift when she is called in for a private consultation. This is when she meets Lena Luthor for the first time, her assistant insisted that Lena was in need medicine.It seems a little too coincidental that this one interaction would only be the first of many. Is Lena Luthor planning something malicious like her brother, or just in need of a friend (or more?)--------forewarning, I don't know anything about medicine or how hospitals actually work, so bare with me-----





	Only Human

**Author's Note:**

> fuck I have this now to finish,, a lena centered one I REALLY wanna do that I thought of in the middle of writing this chapter  
> why do I do this to myself?  
> i got a 2nd job so i now REALLY don't have time as it is
> 
>  
> 
> also;  
> captain marvel was fantastic and carol danvers is a lesbian and no one can tell me another wise

Kara wasn't entirely excited that her shift at the hospital was ending in little over half an hour. She was going to force herself to find some food and fly around the city, even if she was going to be half asleep and probably more of a hazard than help. Supergirl had made less appearances lately since she was so swamped with work and only really had the energy to make emergency appearances in life or death situations.

She had been serving as an ER doctor today, arrived with seconds to spare at 6pm hours ago. She had volunteered, after making sure her current patients were comfortable Kara decided to spend the night helping whoever walked through the ER door.

Kara glanced at the basic electronic clock again, only for the dial to slightly adjust to 2:27am. Luckily there was nothing too stressful or fatal, just mainly sick people plagued with the flu. The nurses were stretched particularly thin during flu season, with emergency cases and paranoid parents packed their lobby full almost every minute of the day.

She stepped aside to take a couple sips of water when a surgeon by the name of Winn Schott sauntered over to her with a concerning expression.

“We've a special patient in an evaluation room that I need you to process,” he said quietly, keeping his voice down so none of the other patients could hear.

“A special patient? I'm working ER, unless Cat needs me for general?” Kara asked, resting a hand on her hip. She was kind of hoping this patient would require more time than her shift so she could use it as an excuse to go home to bed.

“I don't know, Cat just requested you to go to room E-12 and run her through the works. Make her comfortable,” Winn shrugged before disappearing into the traffic of worried parents and screaming children.

“Great,” Kara growled to herself, carefully maneuvering around the sick patience until she got to a small secluded examination room. She found herself feeling grateful for Doctor Grant’s new orders, she really needed a break from the draining exhaustion of the ER.

She knocked loudly on the door three times, about to open the door when a young blonde woman beat her too it. She stepped aside, allowing Kara inside the room with a very worried frown plaguing her demeanor.

Sitting on the cusp of the cheap hospital bed was a young woman about her age, clearly displeased about being here. She was messing with a ring on her left hand, staring off into space as if she was the only person in the world. Thin strands of dark brunette hair strayed on her pale face and fell over her shoulders. Even in the dimly lit room, her bright green eyes stood out against her dull monochromatic clothing (a simple gray oversized sweatshirt and black leggings).

It took Kara a second to find her voice, she wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe it was the never ending shift? That was the only logical reason the could muster up. “Hello there, my name is Kara Danvers and I will be your doctor. Can either of you start filling out this paper work for me?” She offered the ipad to the blond woman just in case she wanted to fill it out, but the brunette held out her hand to take it.

“So, what are you doing here this fine Saturday morning?” Kara asked, scanning the woman for any obvious wounds or signs of illness. She wasn’t bleeding, it didn’t look like she was in any pain and her friend just looked more annoyed than anything else.

“I’m fine,” the woman grumbled, her eyes remained unfocused and staring at the floor.  
Kara raised an eyebrow, not expecting that sort of childish response from an adult. She was about to ask a follow up question when the blond interrupted,”She is not fine. She has been up for three days straight and passed out. When she woke up, I dragged her in here to make sure nothing was seriously wrong.”

“Like I said, Eve, I am perfectly fine,” the woman lifted her head up, surprising Kara how utterly exhausted she looked. Her face now looked taunt and every time she blinked her eyelids seemed reluctant to open. She handed back the ipad with the information filled out almost completely, expect the space where it asked what was wrong was left blank.

“Okay, first things first, please recite your name and age,” Kara’s eyes skimmed the form, settling into the usual routine of questions.  
Surprise flashed across her sharp features at the question, but she did not complain,”Lena Luthor, I am 24 years old. Birthday is August 12th, 1994.”

The name resonated in the back of her brain but she didn’t think anything of it, she heard so many names within one shift that Kara just pushed it aside. “And when was the last time you ate and had something to drink?”

Lena didn’t respond, Kara wasn’t sure by her expression if she was trying to think back to when she last consumed something or if she  
didn’t want to answer the question. Kara didn’t have to wait for too long because Eve decided to speak up,”I dropped by a burger around dinner time but it wasn’t touched.”

“Well, I’ll send a nurse in to get your blood drawn-”

“No. I don’t want too many people to know I’m here,” alarm widened her vibrant green eyes that stared directly at Kara. “I have a lot of enemies, Doctor Danvers. If they knew I was in the hospital- for something as pathetic as fainting- than they would think I am weak, I can’t afford that. I would prefer if it stayed between you and Cat.”

“Yes ‘mam,” Kara wasn’t exactly in the mood to argue with her. Her shift was technically over, and she could easily just hand her off to another doctor, but Kara really didn’t want to deal with Cat. “Fine. Let me just check your pulse first. Hoodie off, please.”

Lena obliged, lifting off the jacket with ease. Underneath, she was wearing a very revealing tank top. Kara averted her eyes the second she realized that Lena was braless, just before a blush formed. She was used to seeing people with lack of clothing, especially in the ER when people tend to throw on the bare minimum when fleeing the house in an emergency.

She really didn’t miss the tedious tasks of a nurse like checking temperatures and all that stuff, she didn’t go to medical school and curse herself with massive debt for this. As she was wrapping Lena’s arm up, Kara was surprised to find her skin cold and clammy.

Kara glanced at the dial, taking note of the high heart rate. It was probably a symptom of stress, but she’d definitely have to take a look at the blood work just to make sure there wasn’t an underlying serious issue.

While she was wiping the spot where she was going to draw blood, Kara tried to spark conversation to distract her from the prick,”So, Miss Luthor, what was is keeping you up so late? Work? School? Boyfriend?”

“No, I don’t have any time for relationships,” judging by Lena’s tone, she was confused at something Kara said. “People don’t tend to stick around in my life.” She didn’t even seem to notice the needle as Lena continued to talk,”Lack of sleep, family issues. All just a part of being a CEO of my own company.”

“Oh?” Kara blinked, taking a second for her tired brain to catch up as she filled a vial with Lena’s blood sample. “ _Oh_.” This was the Lena Luthor, the one that makes yearly donations to the hospital and holds a fundraiser for Toys for Toddlers every year. The astounding woman that is working her ass off to prove herself to the world that she’s better than her brother. How did she not notice? Lena Luthor is not someone to be easily forgotten.

“You’re acting like you didn’t know who I am,” Lena commented with a cute little smirk.

“Oh, I’m well aware of who you are- not in a bad way,” Kara added immediately after the smirk turned into a frown,”I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m tired, I’m almost done with my shift and than I have to fly ar-, er, run, home to get some sleep.” Kara had never been that close before to just spilling her massive secret before. She was fatigued and admittedly distracted, it was probably a good idea to wrap up this visit before Kara spilled her entire life to this stranger.

“No, it’s me that should be sorry. I don’t mean to take up your time-” Lena started to apologize, even with the stink eye that Eve threw at her.

“Actually, I’m glad you did,” Kara thought she saw a suggestive smile but she could have just been seeing things,”Because you really need to rest. Someone as smart as yourself should know the risks of pushing your body past its limits, you could severely harm yourself. If Eve didn’t drag you down here, I’m sure you would have kept working until you dozed off in the middle of a meeting. I'm not a soft doctor who will send you off with a warning, you could kill yourself with stress.”

Judging by Lena’s silence, Kara had made a point that she couldn’t justify. “So, once I get this bloodwork run through, you’ll be able to leave but I strongly suggest that you remain the night. I can set you up with an IV so you can rest and hydrate and can make sure you don’t get disturbed.”

“Fine,” Lena grumbled reluctantly as Eve and Kara exchanged an equally shock glance.

“Great, now get comfortable. I’ll be back with your IV soon enough,” Kara nodded her head to Lena, shaking Eve’s hand in politeness before exiting.

Kara was still questioning if that past twenty minutes even happened, if it was hallucination from lack of sleep. Lena freaking Luthor ended up in her care, no thanks to the head of the hospital Cat Grant. Lena certainly was not what she expected, not that Kara ever dreamed of meeting her in the first place.

Why though, after a quick conversation that wasn’t even really a conversation were there little nervous bubbles boiling in her stomach? Nerves, maybe, because she was assisting a powerful woman that could take her job in a split second if she said the wrong thing (not that Kara actually thought Lena would, she seemed like a nice enough person).

Kara checked her watch as she waited for the bloodwork to be tested. Unsurprising, it was nearly 3:30am. In any other case, she would have had someone else take over so she could go home, but something was holding her back. She really wanted to see this through, if anything just to make sure Lena would be okay.

After thanking the lab technician, Kara hurried back to room E-12 with the results. Snagging an IV bag from the supply closet, Kara hurriedly walked off in the direction of the room. She almost walked into three people as she was so focused on the results; but thanks to her reflexes she dodged them by mere centimeters.

She knocked on the door once, Eve swung open the door immediately. Kara stepped into the room, pleasantly surprised to see that Lena was laying down on the bed. Her hoodie was thrown over the back of a chair, the thin and itchy hospital blanket resting comfortably on her stomach.

“Well, nothing seems to be too concerning. The only thing that I can see is that you’re dehydrated. So, I’ll set up your IV and you should be back to normal. Please, listen to your doctor and try not to stress yourself out too much. Rest sometimes, get at least 6 hours of sleep, and that’s an absolute minimum,” Kara said as seriously as she could.

“Thank you Doctor. Lena, just give me a call when you wake up and I’ll get you,” Eve nodded to Kara and turned to her boss,”Don’t worry about work, Jess and I will deal with your meetings.”

“Thank you Eve, Danvers,” Lena said, snuggling deeper into the sorry excuse of blankets. Her assistance smiled affectionately at her boss before leaving, now it was Kara and Lena alone in the dark room.

“I am serious though. Someone as smart as yourself should know how dangerous it is to push yourself like this,” Kara scolded as if she was talking to a sick child.  
“Yes, of course. It's just I am making progress on some important research and I got carried away,” Lena said with a strained tone. Kara wasn't sure if it was a cause of exhaustion or annoyance, but she decided that it would be best to leave Lena alone to sleep.

After talking to a few nurses and Winn to ensure no one disturbs Miss Luthor, Kara dragged herself out of the hospital. She walked a couple blocks, feeling drained and ready for bed. Once she was sure that there was no one around, she bolted straight up into the sky and made a direct run to her apartment. Was it careless? Probably, but Kara was too tired to care.  
She pushed open the unlocked windows, shutting them behind her. Kara quickly changed out of her gross doctor gown and into a soft t-shirt for pajamas when her phone rang. Worried that it was an emergency of either work or DEO, she answered it immediately.

“Hello?” Kara knew she sounded tired, but she simply did not care enough.

“Kara? Just wanted to check in,” relief flooded her system as she recognized her sister’s voice.

“Yeah, just got home from work,” Kara said, settling down into her bed. Her eyes were heavy with sleep but she forced them open as she talked to Alex. “What are you doing up still?”

“DEO stuff, tracking a potential lead on Cadmus. Figured I’d call and see if you were still up too,” Alex replied, stifling a yawn.  
“Anything exciting?”

Kara hesitated to answer as she remembered what Lena said about enemies. She shrugged, after all it was just her sister,”It was pretty quiet, that was until I surprised with an interesting patient just when my shift was over.”

“Oh? You have my interest,” Alex said, sounding genuinely intrigued.

“I didn’t recognize her immediately, but it was Lena Luthor,” Kara said. She rarely talked about work, she rarely had anything interesting enough to talk about. Why did she want to talk about Lena when she never wanted to talk about the hospital?

“Oh! Wow, yeah, I can see how that’s something to talk about? What was wrong with her?” Alex inquired. Lena had been the hot seat lately with her efforts to rename her estranged brothers company, of course the DEO had their eyes on Miss Luthor.

“Nothing major, just pushing herself too hard. I feel bad for her, she’s driving herself too hard just to prove she’s better than Lex,” Kara replied, expecting criticism.

“Just because she hasn’t done something now, doesn’t mean she won’t,” Alex said skeptically, clearly disagreeing with Kara’s statement.

“There’s a reason she’s on the watch list.”

“Yeah, because her brother is the world's most notorious alien hater,” Kara grumbled,”Can we have this argument when I’m not deliriously tired. When I get up, I’ll see you at the DEO when I get up.”

“Yeah, fine. Love you,” Alex said as if Kara had forgotten.

“Love you too,” Kara said under her breath as the call ended. The phone slid out of her hand and onto the empty spot on the bed.  
Kara let the exhaustion take hold, her last thoughts echoing about Lena Luthor. Was she asleep right now? Was she awake and listening to the quiet beeping of the hospital?


End file.
